Schools near Poole
43 open schools in Poole, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole · Ofsted ratings, catchment areas and admission criteria · see all Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole schools · grammar schools in Poole
Poole has 43 state schools: 29 primary, 8 secondary, part of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole's wider catchment. 41 have a published Ofsted rating, and 35 of those are rated Good or Outstanding. 2 are state grammar schools and set an entrance test.
Undersubscribed schools rated Good or Outstanding
These schools didn't fill on first preference in the latest admissions year, despite an Ofsted rating of Good or Outstanding — worth a look if you're chasing the same handful of famous names everyone else applies to.
How places are allocated in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Primary schools: LA publishes a dedicated 'School catchment areas' page; only 13 of ~104 schools follow the LA default (rest are academies/VA, may differ). (source)
Most schools use the local authority's default scheme rather than a school-specific catchment map — see each school's page for its own designated/catchment area where one is published.
Poole straddles a council boundary: the scheme above is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole's, and Dorset also has schools here, applying under its own.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole entrance test format
One shared set of selection tests for all four BCP consortium grammar schools (Bournemouth School, Bournemouth School for Girls, Parkstone Grammar School, Poole Grammar School), taken once at the consortium school where you registered: 1. Mathematics (about 50 minutes) — Key Stage 2 curriculum topics. 2. English (about 45 minutes) — comprehension, vocabulary and punctuation. 3. Verbal Reasoning (about 50 minutes). Papers are multiple-choice and age-standardised; the test may only be taken once per admissions round, and the single result is used by every consortium school you apply to. Registration runs later than most areas (historically closing at 12 noon in early September of Year 6, test in late September, results by email in mid-October before the 31 October application deadline).
Key dates
| Entry year | Event | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Sept 2028 | Application deadline | 2027-10-31 |
| Sept 2028 | Primary application deadline | 2028-01-15 |
| Sept 2028 | Offer day | 2028-03-01 |
| Sept 2028 | Primary offer day | 2028-04-17 |
| Sept 2027 | Registration closes | 2026-09-04 (passed) |
| Sept 2027 | Test date | 2026-09-26 |
| Sept 2027 | Results released | 2026-10-16 |
| Sept 2027 | Application deadline | 2026-10-31 |
| Sept 2027 | Primary application deadline | 2027-01-15 |
| Sept 2027 | Offer day | 2027-03-01 |
| Sept 2027 | Primary offer day | 2027-04-16 |
| Sept 2026 | Test date | 2025-09-21 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Application deadline | 2025-10-31 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Primary application deadline | 2026-01-15 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Offer day | 2026-03-01 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Primary offer day | 2026-04-16 (passed) |
Out-of-area applications
The four grammar schools in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (Bournemouth School, Bournemouth School for Girls, Parkstone Grammar School, Poole Grammar School) form a consortium with ONE shared set of selection tests — register with any one consortium school, sit the test there, and the result can be considered by all four. Children living outside the BCP Council area can register and sit the test; if you live elsewhere, your home LA passes your expression of interest to BCP Council, and you apply via your home LA's Common Application Form by 31 October (12 noon). Registration historically closes at 12 noon in early September of Year 6 (later than most areas), with the test in late September. Criteria impact: there are no formal catchment areas, but the schools' oversubscription criteria prioritise local children — e.g. Poole Grammar gives priority to boys in the Historic Borough of Poole/Poole postcodes — so distance matters when schools are oversubscribed.
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